39.32.160.187 at 08:51, 29 July 2022

2022-07-29T08:51:07Z

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{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name=90th Punjabis
| image=Badge of 90th Punjabis (1903-22).jpg
| image_size = 180
|caption=
|dates=1903 - 1922
|country={{flag|British India}}
|branch={{army|British India}}
|type=Infantry
|size= 2 Battalions
|command_structure=
|garrison=
|ceremonial_chief=
|ceremonial_chief_label=
|colonel_of_the_regiment= Lt Gen W Osborn
|nickname=
|motto=
|colors=Drab; faced blue Red; faced white before 1897
|colors_label=Uniform
|march=
|mascot=
|battles=[[Third Anglo-Maratha War]] 1817-19 [[First Anglo-Burmese War]] 1824-26 [[Second Anglo-Burmese War]] 1852-53 [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] [[Second Afghan War]] 1878-80 [[Third Anglo-Burmese War]] 1885-87 Pacification of [[Upper Burma]] 1890-96 [[World War I]] 1914-18 ([[Mesopotamian Campaign|Mesopotamia]]) [[Third Afghan War]] 1919
|notable_commanders=
|anniversaries=
}}
The '''90th Punjabis''' were an infantry [[regiment]] of the [[British Indian Army]]. The regiment was raised in 1799 as a battalion of Madras Native Infantry. It was designated as the 90th Punjabis in 1903 and became 2nd Battalion [[8th Punjab Regiment]] in 1922. In 1947, it was allocated to [[Pakistan Army]], where it continues to exist as '''2nd Battalion of The [[Baloch Regiment]]'''.<ref name="Ahmad 2010">Ahmad, Lt Col RN. (2010). ''Battle Honours of the Baloch Regiment''. Abbottabad: The Baloch Regimental Centre.</ref>

==Early history==
The battalion was raised in 1799 at [[Masulipatam]] as the Masulipatam Battalion by Captain TK Crewe and was known as ''Crewe ki Paltan'' (Crewe's Battalion). In 1800, it was designated as the 2nd Battalion 15th Regiment, and in 1824, as the 30th Regiment of Madras Native Infantry. The battalion was composed mostly of [[Muslims]], [[Tamils]] and [[Telugus]] of [[South India]]. In 1817-19, it took part in the [[Third Anglo-Maratha War]], and in 1824, it was dispatched to [[Burma]], where it fought in the [[First Anglo-Burmese War]]. It returned to Burma in 1852 to participate in the [[Second Anglo-Burmese War]]. During the Great [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], it operated in [[Central India Campaign (1858)|Central India]]. The regiment also served in the [[Second Afghan War]] of 1878-80 and the [[Third Anglo-Burmese War]] of 1885-87.<ref name="Ahmad 2006">Ahmad, Maj RN, and Ahmed, Maj Gen Rafiuddin. (2006). ''Unfaded Glory: The 8th Punjab Regiment 1798-1956''. Abbottabad: The Baloch Regimental Centre.</ref><ref>Phythian-Adams, Lt Col EG. (1943). ''Madras Infantry 1748-1943''. Madras: The Government Press.</ref><ref>Wilson, Lt Col WJ. (1882-88). ''History of the Madras Army''. Madras: The Government Press.</ref>

In 1892, the 30th Madras Infantry was reconstituted with Punjabi Muslims, [[Sikh]]s, [[Rajput]]s & [[Brahmin]]s, and permanently based in Burma. Its new designation was 30th Regiment (5th Burma Battalion) of Madras Infantry. In 1901, its title was changed to 30th Burma Infantry. The Burma Battalions were special units raised to police the new territories acquired in the [[Third Anglo-Burmese War]] and pacify the rebellious hill tribes inhabiting the frontier regions of Burma. Between 1892 and 1894, the regiment operated in the [[Chin Hills]] against recalcitrant hill tribes.<ref name="Ahmad 2006"/>

==90th Punjabis==
Subsequent to the [[Kitchener Reforms|reforms]] brought about in the Indian Army by [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchener]] in 1903, all former Madras units had 60 added to their numbers. Consequently, the regiment's designation was changed to 90th Punjabis, the latter part reflecting the new class composition of the regiment, which it had acquired in 1892. In 1910, the Burma Battalions were delocalized from Burma and in 1911, the regiment moved to [[Nasirabad, Ajmer|Nasirabad]] in India, where it was stationed on the outbreak of [[First World War]].[[File:90th Punjabis, Thal, 1919.jpg|thumb|right|The 1st Battalion 90th Punjabis at Thal, NWFP, 1919.|370px]]

During the First World War, the 90th Punjabis served in [[Mesopotamian Campaign|Mesopotamia]], where they arrived in January 1915, as part of the [[12th Indian Brigade]]. After serving in the Persian [[Khūzestān Province|Arabistan]] with the [[12th Indian Division]], the regiment moved to the [[Euphrates]] Front in July. For the rest of the war, it operated on the Euphrates Line with [[15th Indian Division]] and fought with great distinction in the Battle of Nasiriyah, the action of As Sahilan, the [[Battle of Ramadi (1917)|Second Battle of Ramadi]] and the [[action of Khan Baghdadi]].

During the war, the 90th Punjabis suffered 452 casualties including 158 killed and were awarded a number of gallantry awards. Soon after returning home, the regiment was again called out to serve in the [[Third Afghan War]] in 1919. In 1918, 90th Punjabis raised a second battalion, which saw service in the Third Afghan War and took part in operations in [[Waziristan campaign 1919–1920|Waziristan]] in 1920-21. The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in 1922.<ref name="Ahmad 2006"/>

==Subsequent History==
After the First World War, the 90th Punjabis were grouped with the [[91st Punjabis (Light Infantry)|91st]] and [[92nd Punjabis]], [[93rd Burma Infantry]] and the two battalions of [[89th Punjabis]] to form the 8th Punjab Regiment in 1922. The 90th Punjabis became the 2nd Battalion of the new regiment. During the [[Second World War]], 2/8th Punjab returned to their old hunting grounds of Burma, where once again, they fought with great gallantry in the [[Burma Campaign]]. In 1947, the 8th Punjab Regiment was allocated to Pakistan Army. In 1956, it was merged with the [[Baloch Regiment|Baluch Regiment]] and 2/8th Punjab was redesignated as 2 Baluch (now 2 Baloch). During the [[Indo-Pakistani Wars]] of 1965 and 1971, the battalion distinguished itself on the [[Sialkot]] and [[Lahore]] Fronts.<ref name="Ahmad 2010"/> The unit actively took part in Operation Al-Mizan in South Waziristan district (part of erstwhile FATA). The unit also performed border security duties along Afghan border in Upper Dir and Chitral from 2016-19. Currently the unit is in Pakistan administered Azad Jammu Kashmir.

==Genealogy==
*1799 - Masulipatam Battalion Madras Native Infantry[[File:Shwedagon pagoda.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Shwedagon Pagoda]]. A colored lithograph from 1825 made during the First Anglo-Burmese War 1824-26.|280px]]
*1800 - 2nd Battalion 15th Regiment Madras Native Infantry
*1824 - 30th Regiment Madras Native Infantry
*1885 - 30th Regiment Madras Infantry
*1892 - 30th Regiment (5th Burma Battalion) Madras Infantry
*1901 - 30th Burma Infantry
*1903 - 90th Punjabis
*1918 - 1st Battalion 90th Punjabis or 1/90th Punjabis
*1922 - 2nd Battalion 8th Punjab Regiment or 2/8th Punjab
*1956 - 2nd Battalion The Baluch Regiment or 2 Baluch
*1991 - 2nd Battalion The Baloch Regiment 2 Baloch<ref name="Ahmad 2010"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Ahmad, Maj Rifat Nadeem, and Ahmed, Maj Gen Rafiuddin. (2006). ''Unfaded Glory: The 8th Punjab Regiment 1798-1956''. Abbottabad: The Baloch Regimental Centre.
* Ahmad, Lt Col Rifat Nadeem. (2010). ''Battle Honours of the Baloch Regiment''. Abbottabad: The Baloch Regimental Centre.
* {{cite book|last=Barthorp|first=Michael|author2=Jeffrey Burn|title=Indian Infantry Regiments 1860–1914|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=London|year=1979|isbn=978-0-85045-307-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Gaylor|first=John|title=Sons of John Company: The Indian and Pakistan Armies 1903–91|publisher=Spellmount|year=1991|isbn=978-0-946771-98-1}}
* Phythian-Adams, Lt Col EG. (1943). ''Madras Infantry 1748-1943''. Madras: The Government Press.
* Wilson, Lt Col WJ. (1882–88). ''History of the Madras Army''. Madras: The Government Press.

==See also==
*[[Baloch Regiment]]
*[[8th Punjab Regiment]]
*[[Madras Army]]
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Baloch Regiment]]
[[Category:British Indian Army infantry regiments]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1799]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1922]]
[[Category:Indian World War I regiments]]

90th Punjabis - Revision history

39.32.160.187 at 08:51, 29 July 2022